May 31, 2005

Memorial Week End

Sunday of Memorial Day week end found the doula family celebrating Justin's Birthday at the lake.

My uncle was in town. Justin and his friend Brandon took him for a canoe ride.
It amazes me to see my 80 year old uncle act like such a young man. One of his latest adventures was a train ride from Ohio to California ~ solo. He had originally scheduled the trip with a friend. But when that fell through, he didn't consider staying home.

As the kids canoed and swam, Benny grilled traditional picnic fare. I spent a lot of the time under the canopy of a 100 year old oak tree, spinning with my Traveller.

The traveling Vietnam Vetrans Memorial Wall came to our town over the week end. Benny's cousin Raphael Peralta is on the wall. He went to Vietnam in November 1967 and was killed on May 1, 1968. He was exactly 20 years and 6 months old. My oldest will be 20 this November. Scary.

Visiting the wall was an amazing experience. It was at our local park. Usually the park is noisy with kids and dogs. There was a stillness accompanying the wall. The park was transformed as though we were walking on holy ground.

I just ordered Sparkles to make my aunt the Red Hat Lady shawl. Any advice from someone who has made this would be appreciated. I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around unraveling for the fringe.